White, Edwards finish 1-2 in Women's 100 - Day Two Report USATF Sunday - 8-24-2003

White, Edwards finish 1-2 in women's 100 - Day Two Report USATF Sunday - 8-24-2003

PARIS – Kelli White and Torri Edwards delivered sizzling, personal-best performances Sunday night in the women’s 100 meters at the 2003 World Outdoor Track & Field Championships, finishing in a 1-2 sweep at the Stade de France.

White posted a world-leading time of 10.85 – a personal best by .08 seconds – to become the fourth American woman to win the 100m gold at the World Championships. [Other U.S. winners were Gail Devers (’93), Gwen Torrence (’95) and Marion Jones (’97, ’99).] She was followed to the finish line by Edwards, whose time of 10.93 was a personal best by a whopping .12 seconds. Gail Devers finished eighth in a season-best time of 11.11.

Together, White and Edwards repeated the gold-silver U.S. finish by Marion Jones and Inger Miller at the 1999 World Championships in Seville, and also mirrored their 1-2 placing at the 2003 USA Outdoor Championships in Stanford in June.

Considered a favorite in the event entering the meet, White (Union City, Calif.) responded brilliantly to early-race challenges from co-favorite Chandra Sturrup of the Bahamas, defending champion Zhanna Block of Ukraine, and Edwards, all of whom beat White soundly out of the blocks. Edwards’ reaction time of .133 seconds gave her an edge over Sturrup’s .136, with Block at .160 and white at .184.

White’s drive phase powered her past the competition by mid-race, and she went on to hit the finish line well clear of the rest of the field. Edwards (Los Angles, Calif.) also impressed as she defeated the defending world champion and continued the top season of her career. Her 100m silver improves on her 60m bronze medal from the 2003 World Indoor Championships.

The rest of the world could be in for double trouble when the 200 meters begins on Tuesday. White and Edwards will take their talents to the half-lapper, an event in which White won bronze at the 2001 Worlds and which she calls her favorite. They will be joined in the 200 by 17-year-old Allyson Felix, whose time of 22.11 leads the world this year.

In the 100m semifinals Sunday, White again came back from a slow start to win her semi in 10.96 over Sturrup. In the second semi, Edwards was third (11.11) and Devers was fourth in a then-season best 11.12.

Endurance events were featured in Team USA’s other finals Sunday. Alan Culpepper (Louisville, Colo.) was 14th in the men’s 10,000 meters in 28:14.92. He was followed by Meb Keflezighi (Mammoth Lakes, Calif.) in 16th (28:35.08) and Dan Brown (Portland, Ore.) in 19th (29:01.60). Kenenisa Bekele of Ethiopia outkicked countryman Haile Gebrselassie for the win, finishing in 26:49.57 to beat Gebrselassie by 1.20 seconds.

Joanne Dow (Bedford, N.H.) placed 24th in the women’s 20 km walk Monday morning with a time of 1 hour, 36 minutes and 32 seconds. Yelena Nikolayeva of Russia won the race by 42 seconds with her time of 1:26:52.

Team USA’s men’s 400 meter runners continued their dominant form in the semifinals. Tyree Washington won the second semi with the fastest qualifying time of the day, 44.60. Jerome Young (Fort Worth, Texas) won the first race in a season-best time of 44.70, followed by Calvin Harrison (Salinas, Calif.) in second in 44.71.

World record holder Tim Montgomery (Cary, N.C.) showed that he has overcome the sub-par form he showed in Europe over the summer, winning both of his heats of the men’s 100 meters. In the first round, Montgomery had the fastest time with his winning 10.07 in heat 7; in the second round, he won his heat in 10.04.

Also advancing in the 100 for Team USA were Bernard Williams (Miramar, Fla.) and Maurice Greene (Irvine, Calif.). In the first round, Williams won heat 2 in 10.19 and Greene was second in heat 8 in 10.18; in the second round, Williams was second, behind Montgomery, in heat 1 in 10.12 while Greene was third in heat 4 in 10.04. Jon Drummond won his first-round race in 10.22 but was called for a false start and disqualified from the second round after a protest.

All three American entrants advanced in the women’s 400-meter hurdles, as four-time U.S. champion Sandra Glover ran 54.48 in the third heat to be fastest among Americans. Defending U.S. champion Raasin McIntosh was second in heat 2 in 55.54, while Joanna Hayes was third in heat one with 56.10.

U.S. champion Sanya Richards (Austin, Texas) will be joined by former NCAA champion Demetria Washington (Columbia, S.C.) in Sunday’s semifinals of the women’s 400 meters. Richards ran 51.00 to place second in heat 5 of Sunday’s first-round races, and Washington was third in heat 3 in 51.53. DeeDee Trotter (Knoxville, Tenn.) was sixth in heat 2 in 52.17 and did not advance.

Carl Brown (Los Angeles, Calif.) had the ninth-best throw among all contestants in men’s discus qualifying (63.01m/206-8) to advance to Tuesday’s final. Casey Malone (59.58m/195-6 – Boulder, Colo.) and Nick Petrucci (61.50/201-9 – Chula Vista, Calif.) did not advance.

Failing to advance from their qualifying rounds Sunday were Jen Toomey (Salem, Mass.), who was seventh in her 800m semifinal with 2:02.35, and Yuliana Perez (Tucson, Ariz.), who was 20th in qualifying in the women’s triple jump (13.89m/45-7).

Heptathlete Kim Schiemenz, 13th after the first day of competition, did not compete in day 2 due to injured ligaments and bruises in her right foot, suffered during the high jump on Saturday. The event was won by 19-year-old sensation Karolina Kluft of Sweden, who became just the third woman in history to surpass the 7,000-ponit barrier with her score of 7,001.

Sunday Team USA quotes
8-24-2003

Women’s 100m final

Kelli White: I’m not sure how this feels yet. I am a bit of a slow starter, but I was strong enough to come back. Someone asked me one time is it better to have a world record or a title, and I’d rather have a title because it will always be there and I’m happy that I have that now.

Torri Edwards: I’m very pleased with it. I was going for the gold medal, but I had a great start and ran my personal best for the year, so I’m pretty happy with it. I got that great start and just kinda said ‘Okay, let’s do it,’ so I went for it. I’m pleased with the silver. I was going for the gold but I’ll take silver for now. I’m going to go for the gold in the 200.

Gail Devers: Every round got better and better for me. This was a tough race. I’m very happy for the Americans. To get first and second with two young athletes, who’ve never won major championship before, and for them to come out and do it in that fashion with personal bests shows how strong our American team is. With Marion coming back next year the rest of the world needs to watch out. For me to compete on that level in the 100 meters next year I have some work to do.

Men’s 400m semifinals

Tyree Washington: I was fired up and that’s one more down and I have one more to go. It’s been a long road for me and I’m just letting it out in a good way. I’m really happy to win that one. My coach Brooks Johnson told me to make a statement today and I believe I did that, although there are some things that were wrong with my race and I look forward to speaking with him to get them corrected. I feel like I’m living a dream.

Calvin Harrison: It felt okay. I got a little tired toward the end. At 250 (meters) the guys were coming up fast on me faster than I thought they would be, so I had to shift it into gear. I placed in the top two like I wanted to and I’m going to the finals. We may take a sweep.

Jerome Young: I didn’t think the semifinals would be so fast. These guys made me run fast around that curve and I didn’t expect to have to run like that. I’m happy that I made it back to the finals. That’s all I wanted. I had to spend a little more energy in this race than I wanted to.

Men’s 100m quarterfinals

Tim Montgomery: I was able to shut it down around 60 meters and look over and run 10.04. My confidence is back and I look forward to the rest of the season.

Maurice Greene: When asked about the Jon Drummond false start situation: “It’s a shame.” When asked how much the delay affected his race: “None.”

Bernard Williams: It felt pretty good. I got out real smooth and aggressive and I just wanted to get in the top two because tomorrow we’ve got two more and it’s time to do it. I hurt myself about a week ago and I’ve been in rehab ever since. When I ran in Zurich, I hurt my groin. I haven’t had any problems with it this week.

Men’s 10,000m final

Alan Culpepper: Obviously I’m not very happy about it, but I’m not disappointed because I ran as hard as I could. I felt like with the conditions and the day itself that was my best effort. I never gave in and that was all I had. I felt really hot.

Meb Keflezighi: It was a very tough race. As it went on they picked up the pace and I wasn’t able to keep up with them.

Dan Browne: There’s not much to say. It was a tough race. I don’t know what happened. I couldn’t feel my feet after about 20 minutes and I’ve never had that happen before. I’m looking forward to a fall marathon. I feel like more of a roads guy right now than a track guy.

Women’s 20 km race walk

Joanne Dow: It didn’t really go according to my race plan. I’m happy that I was able to stick it out and finish. About 8K I was starting to fall away and drop off the pace. I was able to maintain. It wasn’t like I completely blew up in the end.

Women’s 400m hurdles 1st round

Raasin McIntosh: I didn’t get out like I wanted and I made a couple of mistakes. I’m going to be ready for the next race. I’m glad to get a feel for the stadium. I’m glad to get this one behind me. I’ll have more confidence going into the next round. There’s nothing else I want to do more than to come out here and represent my country.

Men’s discus throw qualifying

Carl Brown: The first throw I was really nervous. I missed a position and then I got refocused and made it to the final. On the third throw I tried to do something a little special and now I got a better feel for the ring. It felt good though. Tuesday I’ll be ready to go. My coach, Brooks Johnson, is a big part of me being here and I don’t know where I’d be if it wasn’t for him, to tell you the truth.

Casey Malone: This was a great experience. My plan was to try to get a good throw to start out with. I was pretty happy with my first throw. After that I started pressing trying to get a bigger throw. It was great to be here and see the world’s best and see what the world class level is. I learned a lot.

Nick Petrucci: It didn’t go as well as I wanted. I expected a lot more out of myself today. This is my first Worlds and I expected to make the final. I’m not happy with my performance. My last attempt was close to what I wanted. The important thing is to go out and nail your first attempt and I knew it would be like that.

Women’s 400m qualifying

De’Hashia Trotter: I felt pretty good. It was a tough race. It’s been nice and fun to be here, and hopefully I’ll make it back sometime. The whole race is kind of a blur. I’ll have to really think about it to determine what happened.

Demetria Washington: I was in lane one and my main purpose was just to get out and run strong and make sure I am in the top three so I could relax late in the race. This is my first year out of college and on the professional circuit and I have a lot of goals in mind and right now I’m taking it one race at a time and see what happens after that.

Sanya Richards: It was good. This is the best I’ve felt since I’ve been in Europe, so I’m excited about the next round. I tried to get out well and I covered lane eight early and I was able to bring it home comfortably. I noticed I had fallen a little behind coming off the final turn and I was able to pick it up and finish in the top three.

Women’s 800m semifinals

Jen Toomey: It was horrible. I didn’t have a very good race. I had to listen to rap music until about three in the morning above my head, so I only had about four hours of sleep, but that didn’t affect me at this point. This was my first really big race and it’s been a really rocky year.

Women’s triple jump qualifying Yuliana Perez: It was awful. I am a little tired. I came in a couple days ago, but it’s okay. It was a good experience. I got to see some new faces and see who’s ahead of me. I’m young and this experience will help me with the next year coming up.